Israel began coordinating with Cyprus to purchase a seaport a day after America announced its intention to establish a seaport in Gaza (Anatolia)

A day after US President Joe Biden announced the United States’ intention to establish a seaport in the Gaza Strip, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper published news stating Israel’s intention to buy one of the ports on the island of Cyprus.

The Israeli Ministry of Transport announced - yesterday evening, Saturday - that an Israeli delegation headed by Uzi Yitzhaki, head of the Israeli Ports Company, will leave for Cyprus tomorrow, Monday, to discuss the possibility of purchasing one of the ports of the island, which is the third largest island in the Mediterranean.

The Israeli move raises many questions, especially as it comes at a time when Tel Aviv is tightening its siege on Gaza and refuses to allow humanitarian aid to enter it through land crossings, despite the widespread famine in the Strip and the catastrophic humanitarian situation.

What are the goals of the Israeli move?

What is its relationship to Israel’s post-war plans and the port that America intends to establish in Gaza?

Checkpoint

Yedioth Ahronoth indicates that, by purchasing a port in Cyprus, Tel Aviv seeks to achieve two main goals:

  • The first is to use the port to inspect ships carrying humanitarian aid before they arrive at the port that the United States is working to establish on the coast of Gaza.

  • The second is to lift the blockade imposed on Israel’s ports. The newspaper said that the step is part of Tel Aviv’s efforts to find sea routes to transport goods to Israel in response to the current challenges and the challenges the future may hold for Israeli national security with regard to maritime logistics services, according to the newspaper.

It is not surprising that Israel is seeking alternatives to ensure the flow of goods to it in light of the ongoing Houthi attacks on ships heading to Israeli ports, which reports indicate have hurt its economy.

A sea corridor to impose a new reality

Writer and political researcher Sari Orabi believes that the idea of ​​purchasing a port in Cyprus in order to open a sea corridor to Gaza is a step far ahead of the current American thinking of establishing a sea pier to receive humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip, and he says in statements to Al Jazeera Net that Israel is seeking through this to achieve 4 Objectives are:

  • Re-engineering the Gaza Strip by creating new political, social and economic conditions. These conditions may be an expression of what is called the day after the elimination of Hamas, according to the Israelis, or the day after the end of the war, of course, in a manner consistent with Israeli and American visions.

  • Tightening full security and economic control over the Gaza Strip, so that Israel remains the sole controller of everything that enters and exits the Strip.

  • Israel realizes that this war has created new perceptions towards the Gaza Strip, and no one can no longer remain silent about the ongoing siege on the Gaza Strip for 17 years. Everyone now realizes that one of the reasons for the explosion that occurred on October 7 is the Israeli siege implemented, and therefore Israel After the end of this war, it may find itself required to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip, and it will not accept without having a final and decisive word on that.

  • Israel also wants to relieve the burden or embarrassment on Egypt, which fell into embarrassment after thousands of aid trucks piled up at the Rafah crossing without being able to enter the Gaza Strip due to Israeli inspections. Purchasing the port does not necessarily mean canceling Egypt’s role as much as it may relieve it of embarrassment for a while. Make arrangements regarding the Rafah crossing.

Orabi also believes that among the goals that Israel seeks is also to provide a relief flow to the Gaza Strip through the sea and not through the Rafah crossing, so that it can perpetuate this war while improving its image, which is strongly consistent with the American vision of the course of events in the Gaza Strip.

Old idea

It is noteworthy that the idea of ​​opening a sea corridor to Gaza through the ports of Cyprus is not new, as Israel had previously agreed in 2018, following negotiations with the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas), to establish a sea port serving the Gaza Strip in Cyprus in a negotiated deal that included the return of the bodies of two soldiers. Two Israelis who were being held by the movement, according to a report published by The Times of Israel.

But Tel Aviv at the time was less ambiguous about its goals behind approving the sea corridor. The Israeli Defense Minister at the time, Avigdor Lieberman, said that the plan required the establishment of “an Israeli supervision system that would ensure that Hamas would not use the port to smuggle weapons into the Strip,” according to the newspaper’s report.

The Israeli Hadashot channel at the time quoted an official in the Israeli Ministry of Defense - which it described as a high-ranking one - saying that the Israeli plan would be presented to the residents of Gaza directly, “while bypassing Hamas.”

The Israeli official said, "We will present the plan directly and explain to them: This is possible, this is the price, accept or reject," according to what was stated in a report by the Times of Israel.

Relief trucks are stacked on the Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing, waiting to enter the Palestinian side (Al Jazeera)

Forced displacement across the sea

Observers fear that reviving the old plan is part of Israel's efforts to forcibly displace Gazans from the Strip.

Hassan Ayoub, professor of international and comparative politics at An-Najah University, believes that the move entails real risks related to the silent and systematic forced displacement of the population of the Gaza Strip.

He said that the matter falls within the context of a systematic plan that begins with using the weapon of starvation and destroying the infrastructure in the Gaza Strip, turning it into a place unfit for life. Then the issue of humanitarian aid is placed in the hands of Israel, which means circumventing international law and the decisions of the International Court of Justice, and working to help those who want to leave the Gaza Strip. To do this via sea lane.

Ayoub believes that this forced displacement plan is the main reason for the disruption of negotiations aimed at reaching a truce in Gaza. He also believes that Israel’s refusal to return residents to the northern Gaza Strip, and its failure to withdraw from it, is an indication that Tel Aviv is still committed to its main plan aimed at emptying the Gaza Strip of its population.

Source: Al Jazeera